the church brings us full circle.

today felt like a looong day, even though we got up a little later than usual. there were whispers of some national strike that would keep everything closed down today, but we saw nothing of the sort.

we started back at the notre dame since we hadn't seen the inside. i'm so glad we did - it's amazing! as visitors walked around the side aisles, a mass (in french - how cool and they were chanting!) started in the center... a priest with 8 other monsigneurs or something. i couldn't help but feel awe start to stir up inside... obviously, it isn't the vatican, but i could've believed it was.

sorry, folks, still no photos. these internet coin machines don't allow it. i totally wish i could share though.

continuing southwards, we then visited the catacombs, to which they moved a bunch of bones from other cemeteries because they were spreading disease. this former quarry and then prison runs almost a mile in length beneath the city. piles and piles of skulls and bones surround you as you walk through the tunnel.

then we found chinatown. not much to tell about there. no one would ever miss paris chinatown. we did eat at a pho place, and i think we both felt more like a foreigner there than anywhere else we've been. and what is it about europeans and the lack of water service? it's like we have to beg to get a drink of water! i don't get it.

maybe there's a shortage, because these folks don't bathe enough either. i'm sorry, but b.o. is not in fashion.

we looked for the louvre next. got some nice shots there. it was closed, but we didn't intend on entering anyway. i can forgo the mona lisa to see d'orsay instead tomorrow, since ching's already been there. we then walked along the boulevard whose name i don't remember, along champs d'elysee towards the arc du triomphe. what followed was a long, painful, endless walk towards the grand arch, which is so big that the notre dame purportedly can fit underneath. so of course we had to see it up close. we were probably 15 minutes from it when we hit the last metro stop and gave up on it. the arch looked lovely from where we were.

it was 10p by the time we got to montmarte, which is where our hotel is. we decided to stick it out, making a last stop at the sacre coeur, which sits at the highest hill in paris and from where you can get a great view of the city. we climbed the many, many steps up to the church, just as we had decended into the depths of the catacombs earlier. sacre coeur did not disappoint. a lot of people were headed up there, and not only tourists. locals with wine and music gathered on the church steps to celebrate the sunset (yes, at 10.30p!). it was a fiesta up there, the liveliest place we'd visited so far in paris! a complete contrast from the notre dame. a rastafarian with a drum and cd player banged out the macarena while ladies danced... i was waiting for someone to fall off those steps. oh and the view of the city was gorgeous.

on the walk back to the hotel, i wanted to hit mickey d's, but it had closed 2 mins earlier. probably for the better.